Protest outside the £300-a-head ‘regeneration and redevelopment’ event at our Town Hall

Thursday 26th March, 1pm – 2pm

Tottenham Town Hall, Town Hall Approach Rd, London N15 4RYProtest called by the Our Tottenham Coordination Group, Haringey Housing Action Group, Taxpayers Against Poverty, and Haringey Solidarity Group. All supporters are welcome to bring relevant placards and banners…

We believe that those who live and work in Tottenham should be driving forward the decisions about the future of our communities. Instead we have unaccountable property developers, Councillors and private companies trying to impose their top-down, profit-led mass ‘regeneration and redevelopment’ schemes all over our neighbourhoods.

As the Tottenham public are excluded from this elitist event for so-called ‘key stakeholders’ [see below], we call on local people to attend the protest/rally outside to make our voices known…We invite all the real key stakeholders to join in.

At 6pm local people are invited to come and share ‘protest nibbles’ outside the N17 Design Studio, 451-453 High Road, London, N17 6QH, where event participants will be eating their own luxury ‘nibbles’ to round off their event.

It has just been announced that Tottenham will be one of the nine new GLA Housing Zones for London, while key discussions are also moving forward for Crossrail 2, with proposals for new stations at Seven Sisters, Tottenham Hale and Turnpike Lane. NLA hosts this afternoon ‘on location’ session in Tottenham to hear from key stakeholders on regeneration plans, identify key opportunities and support new work in the area.

A networking lunch will be followed by an area briefing with senior council representatives, developers, investors and occupiers; walking tours of Tottenham Hale, North Tottenham and Seven Sisters & Tottenham Green; and evening networking hosted at John McAslan and Partners’ N17 Design Studio (6pm) with local beers, drinks and nibbles.

Today we have been give the runaround by Haringey Council. All we wanted was for a housing benefit officer to speak to a homelessness officer.

Background:

One of our members had been evicted from a privately rented property. She applied as homeless to the council, but the council eventually denied that they had a duty to house her, stating that she had made herself “intentionally homeless”. One of the key reasons why they had come to this decision was, they said, due to rent arrears as a result of rent she had withheld from the landlady.

She had made it clear to the council’s homelessness team that her rent was being paid by housing benefit, and was being paid directly to the landlady. If this was the case, how then could this have led to a “deliberate act or omission” on her part? A simple phone call from the homelessness team to the housing benefit office could have confirmed this.

On receiving the negative decision, she went to Haringey Council’s Customer Service Centre at Apex House, and requested that the Housing Benefit office provide her with written confirmation that housing benefit was paid directly to the landlady. This was on 16 February 2015. She told them that this request was in relation to an eviction from her emergency accommodation. They refused to give this to her on that date, and told her to wait for a written response.

So she waited. In the meantime, she contacted a solicitor to carry out a review of the negative homelessness decision, and also to request housing pending the outcome of that review. The council refused this request.

How to prevent an eviction

And so she finds herself two days from her eviction date at the council’s Customer Service Centre again. With support from other members, she again requested confirmation of her housing benefit having been paid directly to her landlady. She was told that the housing benefit team does not have to respond for another week – i.e. after the eviction is due to take place.

If the eviction goes ahead, it will cause more distress for the family. They will have to approach Haringey Council’s Social Services for support. Parents in similar situations to hers have been refused housing by social services, and have been threatened with having their children taken into care.

Under Section 188(3) of the Housing Act, local authorities have the power to secure that accommodation is available for applicants who are reviewing a negative homeless decision and who are homeless, eligible and in priority need, even if they are found to be intentionally homeless. They have to consider the merits of the case, and whether any new material, information or argument has been put to them which could alter the original decision.

So the question is this: will someone from the housing benefit office respond before next week and provide the information requested and help prevent a family from being evicted?

UPDATE: So as a result of this article and a tweet, we were contacted by a housing benefit officer for Haringey Council who was very helpful and produced a housing benefit statement for our member to pick up. It confirmed that housing benefit was paid directly to the landlady. Therefore, the assertion in the homelessness decision letter that our member was withholding rent, cannot be true. Unfortunately, because today is the day of her eviction, she hasn’t been able to leave the house. But we also found out, in the process, that this information was always available to the homelessness team.

Quite why the customer service staff weren’t prepared to escalate the request for a housing benefit statement of account, bearing in mind it pertained to the imminent eviction of a family, we still don’t know.

Today, members of Haringey Housing Action Group distributed leaflets outside Apex House (South Tottenham Customer Service Centre), to make people aware about some changes that councils are making to the way they house homeless households. This was just one of many actions happening across London as part of the Radical Housing Network’s week of action. (Read about HASL’s occupation of Lambeth Town Hall.)

Since November 2012, there have been some important changes to homelessness provision by local councils. These changes mean that homeless people that the council have a duty to house may now only be entitled to private sector accommodation.

Previously, homeless households could refuse a council’s offers of private sector accommodation and wait until secure, affordable social housing became available (often waiting for years, living in poor quality temporary accommodation). However, now, if a council makes an offer of a one-year tenancy in the private sector, people will be forced into taking this offer or face the council ending its duty towards them.

Moving Homeless Households out of London

Haringey Council has reportedly not been using this option because private housing in our borough would be unaffordable to most people in temporary accommodation, and so would not be suitable. This has not stopped council officers from putting pressure on homeless households to accept private rented accommodation on the outskirts of London, and in places as far away as Birmingham. The council’s official policy does not state that they are doing this, but our members, and other people we have spoken to, say that it happens on a regular basis. Many people are not aware that the council does not have a policy in place yet and are scared that they have to agree to such suggestions or face losing any support from the council for good.

The council is now looking to put through a policy some time in March so that it can officially move people out of London in large numbers (see the Council’s Corporate Plan proposals – Agenda item “P5 Savings”. Such a policy will break up existing family and support networks. Many people rely on such networks for language support and informal childcare provision. However, this kind of informal support often extends to helping people with benefit claims, finding decent employment and basic legal advice. If these networks are destroyed, then families will be faced with going to official bodies like the council for much more of their needs and for any queries. The total cost to public bodies is certain to increase as a result, because this work is being done on a voluntary and unpaid basis at the moment.

It is also intending for temporary accommodation to be used to make it easier to carry out its estate demolition plans, by placing homeless families in estates earmarked for demolition or “decanted permanent stock”. We have already heard from people who have been moved into such properties. Any attempt by the tenant to get the council to fit basic security or carry out repairs was met with a big blank.

Our housing action group is against the use of any force being used to divide families and friends. There is enough space in Haringey for the households that want housing, the problems are that the housing is unaffordable, in a poor state of repair and is controlled by those who only want to turn a profit, rather than those who want a home. And yet, the council tries to convince us that the best option is to demolish existing council estates and replace them with fewer council homes for social rent.

Changes to Council Housing Allocations

Councils have also been granted the power to change the way they allocate council housing. Haringey Council is in the process of making changing to its own allocation policy. Many other London councils have changed their policies so that homeless people are no longer in high enough priority to stand a chance of getting much needed social housing. Some are increasing the amount of time someone has lived in the borough before they can even go on the waiting list.

These policies make it more difficult for everyone to access decent housing, and mask the real demand for such housing. However, while many people are now understanding the problem facing relatively well-off middle classes – of a lack of affordable housing to buy, and to rent in the private sector – there doesn’t appear to be as much being said about the problems that households in temporary accommodation will soon be facing. This is something that our group, along with our sister groups in London Coalition Against Poverty, would like to change.

As part of its plans to make £70m cuts, the council wants to pass a policy to move up to 3,000 households in temporary accommodation out of the borough, and ultimately out of London. In particular, this will apply to households that the applied to the council as homeless after November 2012, and whom council has accepted a duty to house. In addition, thousands of council homes across the borough, including 1,000 at Broadwater Farm, are to be proposed for demolition, according to the Council’s revised Local Plan. The council has stated that it does not intend to replace the demolished homes with an equivalent number of new council homes, because the new homes will be of better quality.

*** People around the borough will be coming to protest against Cuts of £70 million.

*** Housing demolitions are also part of the Cuts budget

*** Bring placards and banners, bring your neighbours and friends!

Please get involved the various campaigns around housing in the borough, including Haringey Housing Action Group, Haringey Defend Council Housing and Our Tottenham. People power can make the difference. Read the rest of this post »

Haringey Council’s Cabinet last night (14 October) agreed that future Haringey Council tenants will continue to be offered permanent (lifetime) tenancies.Last year, members of Haringey Housing Action Group joined up with Haringey Defend Council Housing, to oppose the introduction of five-year, “flexible”, tenancies for new council tenants. The council’s own consultation questionnaire was overly long and confusingly worded. Instead, we canvassed opinions outside local schools and the council’s own Customer Service Centres on two key issues – flexible tenancies and “affordable” rents. Almost everyone we spoke to was against the five year tenancies and the introduction of new rents set at 80% of market rents (an “affordable rent”).

Below is a statement from Haringey Defend Council Housing on the council’s new proposed tenancy strategy which will now go out for consultation:

This is a tremendous victory for tenants who have bitterly opposed proposals by Cllr Alan Strickland (Executive Member for Housing and Regeneration) for new council tenancies of five years only, with options for renewal, but without any appeals procedure.It is also a victory for those Councillors who have blocked and criticised Cllr Strickland’s plans. They know who they are. Thanks are due to everybody who spoke out, and helped to secure this decision.

However, the Tenancy Strategy which the Cabinet will consider this evening fails to protect future Housing Association tenants, who will be offered “flexible” five-year tenancies at up to double the council rent. We need permanent tenancies, to promote social equality, inclusion, local integration, and family security. But not just for council tenants; it is unacceptable that this security and real affordablilty should be denied to future housing association tenants. This is a recipe for poverty and social exclusion.Read the rest of this post »

About Haringey Housing Action Group

Haringey Housing Action Group meets regularly to give and receive support on housing problems and campaign for better housing. We are not a service, we work collectively to solve each others’ problems. Many of us have had housing problems ourselves or still do and we know we are stronger together. Haringey Housing Action Group is part of London Coalition Against Poverty.
Contact us on 07932 241 737 or email us housingaction @ haringey.org.uk

Join the announcement list

Come to one of our meetings

We meet regularly three times a month, on the 1st and 3rd Fridays at 10am and the last Saturday of each month at 11am, at North London Community House, in Cafe Life, 22 Moorefield Rd, N17 6PY, behind Bruce Grove Station, opposite the Royal Mail sorting office.

Our next meeting dates are:

Fri 20 Feb 2015, 10am
Sat 28 Feb 2015, 11am
Fri 6 Mar 2015, 10am

All welcome

Future Activities & Actions

We have the following actions or activities planned

Monday 23 February 2015, 5.30pm - We will be joining the March for Public Services from Duckett's Common to Haringey Civic Centre. Come and join us! Haringey families need Children's Centres, decent social services and properly staffed customer services.